سورة الواقعة

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Abrash al-Kalbi said to Imam Baqir (peace be upon him), "I have heard that you said, concerning the verse: 'On the day when this earth shall be changed' (Ibrahim/48), 'This earth will be changed into bread.'" He said, "They have spoken truly; the earth will be changed into pure bread, and in the place of gathering they will eat from it." Abrash laughed and said, "Do they have no other preoccupation that would keep them from eating?!" He said, "Woe to you! In which of these two situations are they more preoccupied and in a worse state — when they are at the resurrection and the place of gathering, or when they are being tormented in the fire of Hell?" He said, "In the fire." He said, "Woe to you! Allah says: لَآکِلُونَ مِنْ شَجَرٍ مِنْ زَقُّومٍ فَمالِؤُنَ مِنْهَا الْبُطُونَ فَشارِبُونَ عَلَیْهِ مِنَ الْحَمِیمِ فَشارِبُونَ شُرْبَ الْهِیمِ [Most surely you will eat of the tree of Zaqqum, and fill your bellies with it, and drink upon it of boiling water, drinking as the thirsty camel drinks]." Abrash fell silent.

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): By the One in whose hand of power is the soul of Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! If a single drop of the Zaqqum of Hell were to be dripped into this world, it would ruin the lives of the people of the world; so what will become of the one whose food is Zaqqum?

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): If a single drop of the waters of the Zaqqum and Dari' of Hell were poured into the waters of the people of the world, all the people of the world would die from its stench.

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): The tree of Zaqqum is a tree that grows from the depths of Hell. Its blossom is like the heads of devils. It has seventy branches of the fire [of Hell]. On each branch are seventy thousand fruits of fire; each fruit, in ugliness and foul smell, is like the heads of devils. It hangs upon a smooth, sunken rock, as though it were a slippery mirror. The distance between the base of one rock and the base of [another] rock is seventy thousand years. The branches of the Zaqqum tree drink from fire. Its fruits are fire and its branches are fire. He is told: "O wretched one! Climb up." Whenever he climbs, he slips [down], and whenever he slips, he climbs — and he remains in this torment continuously for seventy thousand years. And when he eats a fruit from it, he finds it more bitter than the sabir plant (a plant which has a bitter sap), more foul-smelling than carrion, and sharper than iron. When it settles in his belly, it boils in his belly like the boiling of scalding water! Then they remember the pleasant and delightful foods they used to eat in the abode of the world.